Monday Miscellany

     Apologies, Gentle Reader. It took so long to chew through the restraints this morning that I’m far too pressed for time to produce a typical tirade. However, the “To Be Celebrated And/Or Dissected” folder is purely bulging with flotsam (I threw the jetsam away, as is only proper), so perhaps this will do as a timewaster / placeholder / sorry-pardon-me-exit-stage-left maneuver.

     (You know, I’m beginning to think of the period when I routinely worked 60 hours a week as “the good old days,” when I could get some “rest.” And I’ve been counseling my coevals to pull the ripcord and learn to love “retirement.” Sheesh!)

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     1. For Movie Buffs.

     I understand there was some sort of awards ceremony yesterday evening. I didn’t watch it; I was too worn out from the day’s labors and fell asleep over a book. Though I’m not sure I would have watched it anyway, given that I knew nothing about any of the contestants:

     Tonight, they will hand out the Oscars for best actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress and best picture.

     And not one will be from the top 10 movies we watched last year....

     This is not new. More and more, the Oscars tend to celebrate films that leave the viewers saying, “How did we miss that one?”

     Perhaps the hashtag should be changed from #OscarsSoWhite to #OscarsSoElite.

     Or do we, the masses, just have no taste?

     That’s one I can answer:

• “De gustibus non est disputandum.”
• “Chacun a son gout.”
• “Of tastes there is nothing written.”

     In my not particularly humble opinion, “we, the masses” go to the movies – if and when we go – to be entertained and diverted. We have enough depressing and disheartening matters in our real, daily lives that we don’t need the “reinforcement” the critically applauded movies would provide. So it’s no mystery why the “critics,” desperate to distance themselves from us grubby groundlings, should prefer exactly the sort of flick we won’t expend our time or piasters to see.

     (Should I mention that the C.S.O. is a huge Steven Seagal fan? Naah, maybe not. Anyway, I prefer the immortal Cynthia Rothrock. For her acting skill, of course.)

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     2. A Second American Civil War?

     This theme has been expressed in many places these past few weeks. It’s not mere airy-fairy conjuration, either. Not when Victor Davis Hanson undertakes to explore it:

     Currently, the political and media opponents of Donald Trump are seeking to subvert his presidency in a manner unprecedented in the recent history of American politics. The so-called resistance among EPA federal employees is trying to disrupt Trump administration reform; immigration activists promise to flood the judiciary to render executive orders inoperative.

     This is a must-read-it-all piece. The evidence Hanson has amassed indicates that the allegiants of Government Uber Alles have decided to “go all-in:” i.e., to do whatever they legally can – and whatever else they think they can get away with – to derail the Trump Train. However, there’s a nascent counteraction in motion, as Hanson’s essay also indicates.

     Further reading relevant to this subject:

• “The Elites Are Revolting”
• “Outside The Beltway, It’s Morning in America Again”
• “How The ctrl-Left Make it Impossible to be a Nice Conservative”

     Enjoy...if that’s the right sentiment.

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     3. Two From Datechguy.

     Peter “Datechguy” Ingemi has been a prominent conservative blogger for quite some time, yet somehow I’ve managed not to include him in my blogroll. That’s an oversight I must correct at once. This morning two pieces of his hit me right between the eyes

     First up is DaTechguy Meets Students TBS & Fake news at Donald Trump’s CPAC 2017 Speech. Peter chronicles a live-action Fake News Production attempt, right at CPAC 2017, in which he was personally involved. Later on he speaks to several students who feared that by agreeing to be interviewed by lefty reporters, they had been taken in and used. It’s a fascinating look at what the media have been doing to us, and how decent persons are beginning to be wary of it...and to take umbrage at it. Please read it all.

     Linked at the bottom of that first piece is this touching mention of A Historic CPAC Catholic 1st Exactly when I needed it. Incidents such as the one Peter reports here – as with the previous one, he was personally affected – are among the reasons several acquaintances of mine have found (or returned to) faith and Catholic allegiance.

     Atheists will scoff. Let them.

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     4. Some Recent And Highly Relevant History.

     The recent spate of urban disruptions and violence are not unprecedented:

     Recently, I had my head torn off by a book: Bryan Burrough’s Days of Rage, about the 1970s underground. It’s the most important book I’ve read in a year. So I did a series of running tweetstorms about it, and Clark asked me if he could collect them for posterity. I’ve edited them slightly for editorial coherence.

     Days of Rage is important, because this stuff is forgotten and it shouldn’t be. The 1970s underground wasn’t small. It was hundreds of people becoming urban guerrillas. Bombing buildings: the Pentagon, the Capitol, courthouses, restaurants, corporations. Robbing banks. Assassinating police. People really thought that revolution was imminent, and thought violence would bring it about.

     This material could well be on the final exam -- America’s final exam. Please read it all.